Sunday, October 24, 2010

Filmed over nearly three years, WASTE LANDfollows renowned artist Vik Muniz as he journeys from his home base in Brooklyn to his native Brazil and the world's largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho, located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. There he photographs an eclectic band of "catadores" -- or self-designated pickers of recyclable materials. Muniz's initial objective was to "paint" the catadores with garbage. However, his collaboration with these inspiring characters as they recreate photographic images of themselves out of garbage reveals both dignity and despair as the catadores begin to re-imagine their lives. Walker (Devil's Playground, Blindsight) has great access to the entire process and, in the end, offers stirring evidence of the transformative power of art and the alchemy of the human spirit. View Trailer

This exhibitionexplored the intriguing creations of the Festival Pattern Group - a unique project at the 1951 Festival of Britain involving X-ray crystallographers, designers and manufacturers. At the instigation of Dr Helen Megaw, a leading Cambridge scientist, diagrams of atomic structures inspired an eclectic array of patterns on curtains, wallpapers, carpets, lace, dress fabrics, ties, plates and ashtrays.

I was in living in Los Angeles in 1992 and experienced the violence and mayhem of the Riots up close and personal. Buildings in my neighborhood went up in flames, caravans of looters broke into stores, mass law breaking and violence was constant, and at least 50 people were killed. The media aired the violence and destruction 24 hours a day for two straight days. Numerous video records of it all are easily findable on the net today. But what you won't find looking through videos on youtube, is any documentation about how people came together in South Central LA in the days following the riots to help clean up and help out. These flash mobs were driven purely by memetic contagion toward the good - and being part of them was among the most powerful experiences of my life. The question I had asked myself over and again in 1992 was, what might have happened if the media had aired these events in equal measure to the violence? That question remains with me today - unanswered.

A fascinating behind the scenes documentary film about how the Barnes Collection (worth 25 billion dollars) is being moved from its original home to a new building located on Benjamin Franklin Pkwy in Philadelphia.